CB45 Range Diary

[CB45]

I'm set on ACC. Going to help setup, and I think the Lady friend is going to come watch a stage or two... she'll be my cheering section... haha.

I really enjoy Silvercreek, but economics says to stay close to home. I'm in for Silvercreek next month when the schedule returns to normal.

[Chris iliff]

Look, I'll drive, lady friend can come, we will eat nice after the match and it'll be good. Competition is in Silvercreek, just saying.

[CB45]

She won't want to spend the whole day with us. Its really not her cup of tea. She was just going to drop in for a stage or two.

I've got $20 waiting on me at ACC for the points series.

Also submitted a stage design for the ACC match, so I've kind of committed myself to go to it.

At this point everyone is my competition in open. I'll be happy to hit paper... haha!

[YVG]

I think someone might be a little skeered of Max!

[CB45]

I think someone might be a little skeered of Max!

Umm... not skeered... I'll take a lickin by Indiana's only GM, even if he is a Super Senior. He's shooting ACC, so we'll see how I stack up head to head in open. A month ago I got within 8%, we both shot Limited. Not bad for only shooting USPSA for one year...

Got my open rig up and running. No failures in 300 RDS in my last practice session. That classifier match was pathetic, I'm just glad I came away with my B card in open...

Dry fire tonight. Live fire tomorrow. Dry fire Thursday.

[Chris iliff]

Scared? Max is Indiana's only GM that I know of, but Silver Creek will have several GM's from outside Indiana, plus several Master class guys. If scared comes into my thinking at all, between those two venues, I'd shoot ACC. But since only shooting against the best is what matters, Silver Creek is an option that must be weighed. More really good shooters will be there.

Chad is right though, it's only 40 miles from me and when I think about the economics of it all.......ACC is just cheaper by a long shot!!!

Edited April 10, 2013 by Chris iliff

[S8MS01904]

When playing this game as a hobby, it helps to "conserve resources" when possible. If it saves the $50 bucks to run the practice day, so be it. It's in the enjoyment of the hard work we do in our day jobs that we do this hobby thing.

If we end up "shortening" the fun in the hobby because we want to "conserve" for something else, then are we really committed to become the best we can be?

OK, now go out and have fun. I'll see ya'll next week.

[CB45]

When playing this game as a hobby, it helps to "conserve resources" when possible. If it saves the $50 bucks to run the practice day, so be it. It's in the enjoyment of the hard work we do in our day jobs that we do this hobby thing.

If we end up "shortening" the fun in the hobby because we want to "conserve" for something else, then are we really committed to become the best we can be?

OK, now go out and have fun. I'll see ya'll next week.

Hi Tom! Welcome to the Buenosphere...

[CB45]

Been thinking... why am I trying to shoot Open? All the good people shoot open... haha...

That dang dot is everywhere! It shows all the imperfections on your trigger pull, improper grip tension, etc.

Shot a trubor next to my Franken 4.8" Brazos cone comp gun. The trubor is flatter. That dot leaves the glass with the Franken gun, but its lighter and feels better to handle. Going to try increasing the powder charge to see if I can work the comp a little more. If not I'll turn it into a minor/steel open gun.

[CB45]

Shot FNS tonight. My Franken Blue ran great! I'm still frustrated with my grip. Good news is, if I get a nice firm grip, the dot tracks much better! That is easily doable.

I didn't win, but I learned a lot. I'm learning what it looks like to call shots with a dot.

This Open deal going to be fun this year! I'm ready to shoot ACC Sunday!

[CB45]

ACC went alright Sunday.

The good: I had a blast. No mikes or errors on the classifier. A little slow, but that's OK.

My goal was to observe the dot and what its like to shoot an open gun in a match. Turns out, its no different. I really don't remember that dot at all. It all happens so fast. By the last stage I was confident with the dot.

Next match I will be back to stage visualization and shot calling.

SCSA @ ACC Saturday.

USPSA @ Riley (WVPPC).

I should be shooting SS in preperation for the IN SS/Prd/Rev match. I'll just get a practice session in next week sometime.

I think I'm going to shoot the Trubor this weekend. In practice, I like it more. Frankenblue is violent. Trubor is muzzle heavy, but it also shoots softer. I'll see what I think after this weekend.

[CB45]

So I asked Master Open shooter, who shoots a shorty, about my observations with the short vs heavy. He confirmed my observations. He prefers the shorter guns because it returns quicker on target. Something to think about...

Results from ACC are about as expected. 88% points. 8 seconds off of the match winner. I was SLOW on my own stage. I designed a stage with a lot of cover and defined shooting locations. I was super slow and choppy, but I got my hits. It was exactly what I need more of. I almost wanted to shoot it again for training.

Classifier came in at 67%. Too many Delta's. I was about 0.5s slow as well.

Got my S&S 200 SWC's in the mail a couple days ago. Loaded them up tonight for the IN SS match next weekend. I'm getting excited about that match. It will be my 3rd Level 2 match. I've learned a lot since last year.

[CB45]

Second clean match!!! 2nd overall!

Results: http://combinedresults.info/index.php/match/7779

Today's goal was to call my shots and I did. Made up my 3 mikes on the day. Its easy to make them up when you see the dot lift from outside the brown target...

No misses on steel.

I dry fired with the SS gun after the match. Live fire tomorrow and three days of dry fire before the IN SS/Prd/Rev match. Excited about it.

Edited April 22, 2013 by CB45

[RangeJunkie]

Awesome man, glad to see you getting results!

[CB45]

Awesome man, glad to see you getting results!

Thanks! Its definitely rewarding to see results. I've felt the awesomeness inside for a little bit.

Hope to see you around soon!

Practice last night with the SS gun. My goal of was to get grip and sight picture engrained into my mind.

Took about 30 minutes and I was back in the groove with iron's and recoil.

One thing I learned yesterday worth noting. What the difference is between controlled fast splits, and prayer splits. At a distance of 10 yds right now, at 0.26s I see the second shot. At 0.2s its hit and miss. Below 0.2s its a prayer and I don't see the sights.

Wide transitions at 10 yards are around 0.43s and close transitiona are 0.26s.

All that to say that I'm learning what my limits are and how to use those limits appropriately. I had a lightbulb moment a couple days ago. You dont have to shoot every shot at the same speed. Give every shot a difficulty level, and shoot it with that much attention. Not more, not less.

That mentality solves a lot for me. The "Stand & Shoot" vs. "Run & Gun" debate is over for me. Open targets vs covered targets. This is self revealing when I realized it takes longer to aim on a smaller target. Its perfectly OK to take a 0.6s shot on a mini popper at 20 yds. That's a tough shot. It feels like an eternity, but its better then throwing off your stage plan. The 0.4s extra is small compared to the wasted time it takes you to shoot without a stage plan.

Edited April 24, 2013 by CB45

[CB45]

Well I'm as ready as I can be for the IN SS/Prd/Rev match. I worked reloads in dry fire all week. Got that down. I'm not as quick as with a double stack, but they are fairly smooth. I'm satisfied.

I'm shooting tomorrow. R.O.ing on Saturday and Sunday. Its going to be a good time for sure.

Been thinking about my goals for this match. I think I'll just keep on doing the same thing... call my shots, execute my stage plan, and have fun.

One thing that I want to start really working on is acceleration and deceleration from shooting area's. I don't like to call them positions, because that sounds like a setup to stand and shoot. This match had a lot of defined shooting positions. I'm going to try to convert them into areas and really work on not standing in one position longer then absolutely necessary.

[CB45]

Well today was a good day. Beautiful Indiana day for shooting. Match was good. Far to many mental mistakes, but I learned a lot. Had a couple excellent, a few decent, and two total desaster stages.

One stage I had two gun malfunctions. That was unexpected. I think they were mag related, maybe its time for new springs. Maybe I should check the feed lip dimensions too.

I'm pleased to have learned a few things. Shooting bigger matches is a good place to learn. I look forward to more major matches, but not with a SS gun. Reloading 4-5 times is insanity. No room for error... haha. I'm not good enough to shoot SS. I'm going back to OPEN!

Edited April 27, 2013 by CB45

[CB45]

Well I had fun working the match Saturday and Sunday. Met some new people and saw some people I haven't seen in a while, so that was nice.

I picked RVB's brain a little bit, then Iliff's brain about stage breakdown. I think I got hung up on this. "Shoot what you see," from Iliff was humbling when I heard it. "It flows for me," from RVB is brilliant.

Keep it simple, shoot what you see, and do what flows best for you. I overcomplicated this match and nervous about limited capacity mags. Shot way to slow. Malfunctions aside, I was about 50 seconds off of the winner. That's 5s/stage. Wow

[rvb]

I picked RVB's brain a little bit, then Iliff's brain about stage breakdown. ... I overcomplicated this match ....

That's the biggest mistake I see people make with stage breakdown is they over-complicate things, especially in the lower-capacity divisions. Revo shooters are usually the exception since they are used to standing reloads and they do what they canto get the easier shots vs forcing makeup shots.

When I have my stage designer hat on, I always have the over-gamer in mind.... Suddenly you see people "looking" for other targets to shoot, even if they are long/hard or require a precise set-up, even if they can be shot up close later. I LOVE it when a shooter starts telling me they gamed my stage, how I bet I wish I had seen what they see before the match started, etc.... And I'm doing all I can not to laugh thinking "enjoy your extra time and make-up shots/misses!"

-rvb

[Chris iliff]

I picked RVB's brain a little bit, then Iliff's brain about stage breakdown....... Wow

That right there is enough to scar a shooter for life!!! LOL

[CB45]

Hit the range twice this week. Tuesday was a beautiful day, but I wasn't very productive. Just a sloppy day all around.

Today was a good practice day. Shot the plate rack in 3.21! Record for me. It was awesome. Did a few movement drills. Felt like I learned a lot and really improved my technique. That was good. Finished the day with Bill Drills. That was fun and productive. Best Bill Drills came in at 2.06 down 1 and 2.16 clean. Right after the first one I knew my weak hand was failing to do its job. Fixed that right up and things were better.

Beautiful day for some practice.

Edit: can't wait to switch back over to Open. Got a class this weekend with Ben S. Shooting my SS for it. I'd rather burn the .45 ammo at this point.

Edited May 3, 2013 by CB45

[CB45]

Stoeger class went well over the weekend. Learned that I am not shooting accurately enough. Aim more and trigger straight back. I'm going to work on that. Stage breakdown was really cool. My take away from that was: 1. Engage what you see (most of the time). 2. Start shoot as soon as possible and try to shoot constantly. 3. Hit what your aiming at. 4. Be efficient.

It felt like a group of guys practicing on the range. Drills and stages were awesome. Stages were different. That was nice.

More later...

[Sleepswithdogs]

Stoeger class went well over the weekend. Learned that I am not shooting accurately enough. Aim more and trigger straight back. I'm going to work on that. Stage breakdown was really cool. My take away from that was: 1. Engage what you see (most of the time). 2. Start shoot as soon as possible and try to shoot constantly. 3. Hit what your aiming at. 4. Be efficient.

It felt like a group of guys practicing on the range. Drills and stages were awesome. Stages were different. That was nice.

More later...

Love to hear more about the class. I'm really wanting to take one, but can't seem to find any coming to Dallas.

Tar

[CB45]

Tar - check out http://benstoeger.com/joomla30/index.php/instruction-classes

I am not going to give away his bread and butter on a open forum, sorry.

The experience was worth the money. Considering the cost of other training options, I think this two day class was cheap.

Something I've been thinking about is efficiency. Effeciency to me means no wasted time. Ben told me I'm fast enough. So I asked why my times were slower than his. His reply, "I'm just more efficient". Hmmm.... I'm beginning to believe it.

Shooting fast on a field course is not about the making loud noises fast. Its all the other stuff that gets you the quick stage times. Stage plans, body positioning, gun manipulation, etc...

Another thing I picked up on was field of view. If you can't see it, you can't shoot it. Pick positions that get the most targets in your field of view. If you you have to adjust your body to shoot, you loose time for every target you can't see.

Stage designs don't have to be 32rds to be challenging. Things that make a stage good to me:

1. Options

2. A little memory element

3. A couple hoser targets

4. A couple challenging targets

5. Movement

That's it for now.

Edited May 8, 2013 by CB45

[CB45]

So today I loaded ammo for the open gun. Still have lots of loading to do! Need to clean some brass to make more practice ammo. Maybe Saturday I'll get on that.

I dry fired for the first time in a week. The open gun feels foreign.

Tomorrow is my birthday and Friday I have a concert to go to.

Saturday is practice day. I'm excited to run some drills with the open gun! Sunday is mothers day, so no matches this weekend.

Next weekend I'm going to take another class. This time with Chris K. I'm excited to get more training.